How to Delete/Remove Calico CNI from Your Kubernetes Cluster

In the world of Kubernetes, networking plays a crucial role in the orchestration and management of containerized applications. One of the most popular networking solutions is Calico, a Container Network Interface (CNI) that provides IP-based networking and network policy enforcement. However, there may be instances where you need to remove Calico from your Kubernetes cluster. This blog post will guide you through the process step-by-step.

By Saturn Cloud | Tuesday, August 08, 2023 | Miscellaneous

How to Delete/Remove Calico CNI from Your Kubernetes Cluster

Prerequisites

Before we dive in, ensure you have the following:

A running Kubernetes cluster
kubectl installed and configured to interact with your cluster
Administrative access to the cluster

Step 1: Identify Calico Resources

Calico deploys several resources on your Kubernetes cluster, including DaemonSets, Deployments, and Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs). To identify these resources, use the following kubectl commands:

kubectl get daemonsets -n kube-system -l k8s-app=calico-node
kubectl get deployments -n kube-system -l k8s-app=calico-kube-controllers
kubectl get crd -l projectcalico.org/name

Step 2: Delete Calico Components

Once you’ve identified the Calico resources, you can proceed to delete them. Use the following commands:

kubectl delete daemonsets -n kube-system -l k8s-app=calico-node
kubectl delete deployments -n kube-system -l k8s-app=calico-kube-controllers
kubectl delete crd -l projectcalico.org/name

Step 3: Remove Calico Network Policies

Calico also creates network policies that need to be removed. Use the following command to delete them:

kubectl delete networkpolicies --all

Step 4: Clean Up Remaining Calico Resources

Some Calico resources may still remain in the kube-system namespace. To remove them, use the following commands:

kubectl delete serviceaccount -n kube-system calico-node
kubectl delete clusterrole calico-node
kubectl delete clusterrolebinding calico-node

Step 5: Verify Removal

Finally, verify that all Calico resources have been removed by running the commands from Step 1 again. If no resources are returned, you have successfully removed Calico from your Kubernetes cluster.

Conclusion

Removing Calico from your Kubernetes cluster involves identifying and deleting the various resources it deploys. While this process can be straightforward, it’s essential to proceed with caution to avoid disrupting your cluster’s functionality. Always ensure you have a backup or recovery plan in place before making significant changes to your cluster.

Remember, the removal of Calico means your Kubernetes cluster will no longer have a CNI in place. You’ll need to install a new CNI to ensure your pods can communicate with each other. Stay tuned for our upcoming blog post on how to install different CNIs on your Kubernetes cluster.

If you found this guide helpful, please share it with your fellow data scientists and Kubernetes enthusiasts. And if you have any questions or run into any issues, feel free to leave a comment below.

Keywords: Kubernetes, Calico, CNI, Container Network Interface, Networking, Data Science, Cluster, Delete, Remove, Calico-node, Calico-kube-controllers, Network Policies, kube-system, DaemonSets, Deployments, CRDs, Custom Resource Definitions, Serviceaccount, Clusterrole, Clusterrolebinding

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